Outside plant enclosure with pivoting fiber trays

ABSTRACT

A telecommunications cabinet includes an enclosure, a splitter mounted within the enclosure for splitting a fiber optic signal, a plurality of adjacently positioned adapter trays mounted within the enclosure, each tray being pivotable about an axis generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the enclosure and each adapter tray housing a plurality of adapters, the enclosure also including an excess cable storage structure for storing cables that are not connected by the adapters mounted on the adapter trays, the excess cable storage structure providing a termination location for fiber optic cables without providing a continuous optical path for the fiber optic signals.

FIELD

The present invention relates generally to fiber optictelecommunications connection devices. More specifically, the presentinvention relates to fixtures and cabinets for fiber optic connectors.

BACKGROUND

Outside plant (OSP) telecommunications equipment, including terminationsand splitters, may be housed in protective enclosures out of doors. Theenclosures may be above-ground or stored in a below-ground vault.

As demand for telecommunications services increases, optical fiberservices are being extended into more and more areas. Often, it is morecost effective to provide for greater service capacity than currentdemand warrants. This will allow a telecommunications service providerto quickly and cost-effectively respond to future growth in demand.Often, optical fiber cables may be extended to a customer's premisesprior to that customer actually requesting or needing service. Suchcables may be extended to premises adjacent the premises of a currentcustomer, as it may be cost effective to extend both cables at the sametime, or the cables may be extended to new building sites inanticipation of the new occupants of those sites requesting fiber opticservice.

Therefore, it is desirable to have an easily scalable solution foraiding connection of new customers to existing connections within apiece of installed connection equipment and expansion of the number ofconnections available within the installed equipment. It is alsodesirable to provide for a connection solution that can provide for ahigh density of connections while using little space, that limits visualpollution, and that is reliable and easy to service.

SUMMARY

The present invention relates to telecommunications management devicesand methods including a plurality of cable management trays. The traysare selectively moveable out of an aligned arrangement in order toaccess the cables and terminations on each tray. The tray includes afirst cable access location for cables entering the tray, and a secondcable access location for cables exiting the tray. A pivoting coverincluding mounting locations for cable terminations is provided on thetray.

The present invention also relates to a telecommunications cabinetincluding a splitter for splitting an outside plant (OSP) cable (i.e.,input cable) to a plurality of fiber distribution cables. The cabinetincludes an input cable housing, a splitter housing, a cable managementarea, adapters for relaying the split input cables to output cables, anexcess fiber distribution cable storage area, and an output cablehousing.

OSP cable, after being split into distribution cables by the splitters,is directed to the cable management area. From the cable managementarea, the distribution cables can be directed to adapters for connectionwith customer equipment cables if service is desired. If service is notyet desired, the distribution cables can be directed to the excess cablestorage area where connectors terminating these cables are stored andprotected until a connection by the customer is desired. The adaptersconnecting the fiber distribution cables to customer equipment cablesare housed in vertically arranged adapter trays. Each adapter tray ispivotally slidable for providing access to the connections. In additionto termination/connection capability, the adapter trays also providecable storage/management capability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate several aspects of the presentinvention and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention. A brief description of the drawings is asfollows:

FIG. 1 is a front right perspective view of a fiber optictelecommunications cabinet having features that are examples ofinventive aspects in accordance with the principles of the presentdisclosure, with a cover of the cabinet shown in phantom lines;

FIG. 2 is a front left perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1, shown without the cover;

FIG. 2A is a front left perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1, illustrating one of the adaptertrays in a pivoted-out position;

FIG. 3 is a front right perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1, shown with an enclosure of thecabinet removed, illustrating the internal components of the cabinet;

FIG. 4 is a front left perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a rear left perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the fiber optic telecommunications cabinetof FIG. 3, illustrating one of the adapter trays in a pivoted-outposition;

FIG. 7 illustrates a front left perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 3, shown with a splitter housing andan excess distribution cable storage structure removed from the cabinet;

FIG. 8 is a left elevation view of the fiber optic telecommunicationscabinet of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a rear left perspective view of the fiber optictelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a front left perspective view of an input cable housing ofthe telecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a rear right perspective view of the input cable housing ofFIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a front elevation view of the input cable housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a rear elevation view of the input cable housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 14 is a right elevation view of the input cable housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 15 is a left elevation view of the input cable housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 16 is a top plan view of the input cable housing of FIG. 10;

FIG. 17 is a front right perspective view of a cable managementstructure of the telecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 18 is a rear left perspective view of the cable managementstructure of FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a top perspective view an adapter tray of thetelecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1, the adapter tray shown with thetray cover closed;

FIG. 20 is a top perspective view the adapter tray of FIG. 19, theadapter tray shown with the tray cover open;

FIG. 21 is a top plan view the adapter tray of FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a side elevation view the adapter tray of FIG. 20;

FIG. 23 is a front right perspective view of an output cable housing ofthe telecommunications cabinet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 24 is a rear left perspective view of the output cable housing ofFIG. 23;

FIG. 25 is a right elevation view of the output cable housing of FIG.23;

FIG. 26 is a left elevation view of the output cable housing of FIG. 23;

FIG. 27 is a front elevation view of the output cable housing of FIG.23; and

FIG. 28 is a top plan view of the output cable housing of FIG. 23.

DERAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary aspects of thepresent invention that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughoutthe drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

FIGS. 1, 2, and 2A show a telecommunications cabinet 100 having featuresthat are examples of inventive aspects in accordance with the principlesof the present disclosure. Telecommunications cabinet 100 is utilized tosplit a fiber optic signal of an input cable and distribute the signalvia output cables. In certain embodiments, the input cable might be anoutside plant (OSP) fiber optic cable and the output cable might be acollection of customer equipment cables for providing fiber opticservice and connectivity at the customer's location. If used in suchmanner, telecommunications cabinet 100 might be mounted on a pedestal orother mount in an area where fiber optic connectivity for customers isdesired. Telecommunications cabinet 100 utilizes splitters to break thesignal from the input cable. Preferably, all fiber optic cables withinthe cabinet are terminated with connectors such that quick connectionsvia adapters can be provided between the split input cable and thecustomer equipment output cables.

Referring still to FIGS. 1, 2, and 2A, telecommunications cabinet 100includes an enclosure 102. Cabinet 100 may be provided with a cover 104for sealing enclosure 104. Cover 104 is shown with phantom lines inFIG. 1. In one embodiment, cabinet 100 has a height H of about 3 feet, alength L of about 14 inches, and a width W of about 14 inches. Cabinetdefines a longitudinal axis A shown in FIG. 1.

Enclosure 102 includes a top wall 106, a bottom wall 108, and a backwall 110 interconnecting the top and bottom walls. The internalcomponents of cabinet 100 are constructed and sized to fully fit withinenclosure 102 and can be fully sealed and protected with cover 104. Topwall 106 includes a pair of openings 112, 114. Opening 112 is used toreceive an input cable 116 (e.g., OSP fiber optic cable) and opening 114is used as an outlet for an output cable 118 (e.g., collection ofcustomer equipment cables).

FIGS. 3-6 illustrate the internal components of telecommunicationscabinet 100 with enclosure 102 removed. Mounted within enclosure 102,the internal components include an input cable housing 120 for receivinginput cable 116 (e.g., OSP cable), a splitter housing 122 that houses aplurality of splitters 124, a cable management structure 126 formanaging cables coming from splitter housing 122, a plurality of fiberoptic adapters 128 mounted on pivotally movable adapter trays 130 forconnecting the split OSP signal to customer equipment, an excess fiberoptic cable storage structure 132 for storing connectorized cablescoming from splitters 124 that are not used for immediate connectivity,and an output cable housing 134 for splicing individual customerequipment cables into output cable 118.

As shown in FIGS. 3-5, the internal components of cabinet 100 arearranged around and supported by a shaft 136. Shaft 136 fits into shaftmounts 138 defined on top and bottom walls 106, 108 of enclosure 102.Only bottom shaft mount 138 is seen in FIG. 1. As will be discussed ingreater detail later, shaft 136 also forms part of a hinge arrangementfor providing adapter trays 130 with pivotability.

In FIGS. 7-9, the internal components of telecommunications cabinet 100are illustrated with splitter housing 122 and excess cable storagestructure 132 removed from cabinet 100.

FIGS. 10-16 illustrate input cable housing 120 of cabinet 100. Asmentioned previously, input cable 116 might be a multi-fiber OSP cable.Input cable 116 enters housing 120 through an input opening 140 definedat the top of housing 120. Input opening 140 is positioned to align withopening 112 defined on top wall 106 of enclosure 102 (see FIGS. 1-2).Input cable housing 120 defines an interior volume 142 for accommodatingslack cable. Input cable 116, after being separated into multiplesecondary cables 144, is directed out of housing 120 through an exitopening 146 provided at the top. Preferably, the ends of cables 144exiting from housing 120 are terminated with connectors (e.g., SC typeconnectors).

After exiting input cable housing 120, connectorized secondary cables144 are connected to inputs (not shown) of splitters 124 via adapters.Each splitter 124 separates the optical signal transmitted over asecondary cable 144 into thirty-two signals directed into an equalnumber of fiber distribution cables 148. Fiber distribution cables 148are also preferably terminated with connectors. Splitters 124 aredescribed in greater detail in commonly-owned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/138,063, filed on May 25, 2005, entitled “FIBER OPTICSPLITTER MODULE,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 5, splitter housing 122includes a radius limiter 150 adjacent exit opening 146 of housing 120for guiding cables 144 coming from housing 120 to splitters 124.

From splitters 124, fiber distribution cables 148 are directed throughcable management structure 126 illustrated in FIGS. 17-18. Fiberdistribution cables 148 exiting the outputs 152 of splitters 124 arefirst guided through a first portion 154 of cable management structure126. First portion 154 of cable management structure 126 includes radiuslimiting walls 156 and fingers 158. Distribution cables 148 are thenguided around spools 160 located adjacent the lower portion of cablemanagement structure 126. After being guided around spools 160, asillustrated in FIGS. 1-4, distribution cables 148 can then be directedto either excess cable storage structure 132 or through further radiuslimiters 162 to adapter trays 130.

Excess cable storage structure 132 is illustrated in FIGS. 1-6. Excesscable storage structure 132 might be utilized until such time when acustomer desires fiber optic service. Excess cable storage structure 132includes a bulkhead 164 that defines mounting slots 166 for mountingconnector holders 168. Each connector holder 168 may include a pluralityof openings 170 for receiving and releasably holding fiber opticconnectors 172. Openings 170 in connector holder 168 preferably do notprovide a continuous optical path but rather house and protect apolished end face of an optical fiber within cable 148. This protectionmay be provided in combination with an endcap, such as shown incommonly-owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/610,325, filed onJun. 30, 2003, entitled “FIBER OPTIC CONNECTOR HOLDER AND METHOD,” thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Alternatively,the connector holder may enclose and protect the polished end face ofthe connector terminating cable without the need for a protectiveendcap. Excess cable storage structure 132 and connector holder 168 aredescribed in greater detail in commonly-owned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/871,555, filed on Jun. 18, 2004, entitled “MULTI-POSITIONFIBER OPTIC CONNECTOR HOLDER AND METHOD,” the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference.

For those customers desiring fiber optic connectivity, distributioncables 148 are directed to adapter trays 130 illustrated in FIGS. 19-22.Adapter trays 130 are arranged vertically within enclosure 102. In theembodiment shown, cabinet 100 includes twenty-four adapter trays 130,each one housing twelve adapters 128 for a total of two hundred andeighty-eight customer connections.

As discussed previously, each tray 130 is configured to pivotally swingout with respect to cabinet 100 to allow access to the connections ontrays 130. In FIGS. 2A and 6, one of the adapter trays 130 is shown in apivoted-out position. Adapter trays 130 are configured to pivot in thedirection of the arrow 174 shown in FIG. 6.

Adapter tray 130 includes a main housing portion 176 and an extensionportion 178 that includes a hinge structure 180 at one end. Hingestructure 180 is coupled to shaft 136 of cabinet 100 and forms a hingearrangement with shaft 136 to provide for slidable, pivotal movement oftray 130 with respect to shaft 136. Hinge structure 180 and shaft 136both include intermating rounded profiles to provide the slidable,pivotal movement.

Main housing portion 176 of adapter tray 130 provides cable storage aswell as cable termination. Main housing 176 is formed from a base 182and a hingedly connected cover 184. Cover 184 includes adapter mounts186 that are arranged side by side in a staggered configuration, eachadapter mount 186 accommodating six pairs of connectors 172. Asillustrated in FIG. 19, distribution cables 148 coming from splitters124 are connected at an upper side 188 of cover 184 and outgoing matingconnectors 172 are accessible at the opposite, lower side 190 of cover184. Connectors 172 connected on upper side 188 of cover 184 areillustrated in FIG. 19 with cover 184 in the closed position.Intermating connectors 172 mounted on lower side 190 are visible whencover 184 is in the open position as illustrated in FIGS. 20-22.

Referring to FIG. 19, distribution cables 148, after having been guidedthrough radius limiters 162, are guided onto upper side 188 of tray 130and guided under fingers 192 defined on upper side 188 before beingconnected to adapter mounts 186. Main housing 176 of tray 130 includingbase 182 and cover 184 are generally circular to provide radius limitingfunctions.

Referring to FIGS. 20-22, connectorized customer equipment cables 194are connected to adapter mounts 186 at lower side 190 of cover 184.Lower side 190 also includes fingers 193 for cable management. In thismanner, an interconnection is provided between distribution cables 148managed at upper side 188 of cover 184 and customer equipment cables 194managed at lower side 190 of cover 184.

After a connection is established in adapter mounts 186, customerequipment cables 194 are led into base portion 182 of tray 130. Baseportion 182 also includes cable storage and management structures.Customer equipment cables 194 are guided under fingers 196 in base 182and looped around cable slack storage spools 198 before being formedinto a ribbon cable 200 by a fan out 202. Multi-fiber ribbon cable 200is terminated with a multi-fiber connector 204. Base 182 of tray 130includes a multi-fiber adapter 206 which is used to relay multi-fibercable 200 out of tray 130. Multi-fiber customer cables 200 coming out oftrays 130 are guided through radius limiters 208 shown in FIG. 18 tooutput cable housing 134. In other embodiments, instead of utilizing amulti-fiber connector such as connector 204 or a multi-fiber adaptersuch as adapter 206, the multi-fiber ribbon cable 200 may be spliced toan output customer cable within tray 130.

Output cable housing 134 is illustrated in FIGS. 23-28. As shown in FIG.9, multi-fiber customer equipment cables 200 coming from adapter trays130 are directed into output cable housing 134 from a bottom side 210 ofhousing 134. Multi-fiber customer equipment cables 200 can then bespliced into main output cable 118. Main output cable 118 is directedout of an exit opening 212 defined at a top side 214 of output cablehousing 134. Exit opening 212 is positioned to align with opening 114 ontop wall 106 of enclosure 102. Output cable 118 is directed out ofopening 114 to customer premises.

In another embodiment of the telecommunications cabinet, the adaptertrays can be arranged such that they do not pivot in a generallyperpendicular direction to a longitudinal axis A of the cabinet. In suchan embodiment, the trays may be adjacently arranged at an angle relativeto the longitudinal axis A of the cabinet. The adapter trays may have acurved profile instead of the flat profile of the adapter trays 130shown in FIGS. 19-22. The curved adapter trays may follow a curved pathof travel as they pivot out and in with respect to the cabinet. In suchan arrangement, the overall length of the trays can be increased and theinterior volume of the trays enlarged since the trays are adjacentlyarranged at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis A of the cabinetinstead of being arranged at right angles to the longitudinal axis.

It should be noted that, for ease of illustration, only a number of thefiber optic cables have been shown in the figures. The abovespecification, examples and data provide a complete description of themanufacture and use of the invention. Since many embodiments of theinvention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.

1. A telecommunications cabinet comprising: an enclosure having alongitudinal axis; a splitter mounted within the enclosure for splittinga fiber optic signal carried by a first cable into a plurality of fiberoptic signals carried by second cables; a plurality of adjacentlypositioned adapter trays mounted within the enclosure, each tray beingpivotable about an axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe enclosure, each adapter tray housing a plurality of adapters forconnecting the second cables to third cables, each tray including a basedefining an interior volume and a cover for covering the base, at leastone of the plurality of adapters being mounted on the cover and at leasta portion of the third cables being positioned in the interior volumedefined by the base; and an excess cable storage structure for storingsecond cables that are not connected to the third cables by theadapters, the excess cable storage structure providing a terminationlocation for the second cables without providing a continuous opticalpath for the fiber optic signals.
 2. A telecommunications cabinetaccording to claim 1, further comprising a cable manager including afirst plurality of radius limiters in a stacked arrangement.
 3. Atelecommunications cabinet according to claim 2, wherein the cablemanager includes a second plurality of radius limiters in a stackedarrangement, both of the first and second plurality of radius limiterspositioned in stacks parallel to the longitudinal axis of the enclosure.4. A telecommunications cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the firstcable, the second cable, and the third cable are terminated with SC typeconnectors, wherein the adapters mounted on the cover of the tray are SCtype adapters.
 5. A telecommunications tray comprising: a main housing,the main housing including a base and a cover for covering the base, thecover being pivotally coupled to the base with a hinge and the coverincluding adapter mounts for mounting a plurality of adapters and thebase including a cable management structure; and a coupling memberextending from the main housing, the coupling member defining a pivotpoint about which the main housing can pivot.
 6. A telecommunicationstray according to claim 5, wherein the cover is configured for mountingan even number of adapters, wherein one half of each of the adapters iscovered by a portion of the cover so that only one end of each adapteris exposed when the cover is in a closed position relative to the base.7. A telecommunications tray according to claim 5, wherein the adaptersare for connecting SC type connectors.
 8. A telecommunications trayaccording to claim 5, wherein the main housing includes a generallycircular shape.
 9. A telecommunications tray according to claim 5,wherein the base defines an interior volume for storing slack cable. 10.A telecommunications tray according to claim 9, wherein the coverincludes an outer side and an inner side that faces the interior volumeof the base when the cover is closed, the adapter mounts includingopenings accessible from both the inner side and the outer side of thecover.
 11. A telecommunications tray according to claim 5, wherein thecable management structure includes radius limiting spools and fingersdefined in the base of the main housing.
 12. A telecommunications trayaccording to claim 5, wherein the coupling member includes a C-shapedprofile.
 13. A telecommunications tray according to claim 5, wherein thetray includes a multi-fiber adapter mounted thereon.
 14. Atelecommunications device including: a fixture including a longitudinalaxis; a plurality of adjacently positioned trays mounted on the fixture,each tray being pivotable about an axis generally parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the fixture, each tray including a base and a coverfor covering the base, the cover including an adapter mount and the baseincluding a cable management structure.
 15. A telecommunications deviceaccording to claim 14, further comprising a cable manager including afirst and a second plurality of radius limiters in a stackedarrangement, both of the first and second plurality of radius limiterspositioned in stacks parallel to the longitudinal axis of the enclosure.16. A telecommunications device according to claim 14, wherein the coveris configured for mounting an even number of adapters, wherein one halfof each of the adapters is covered by a portion of the cover so thatonly one end of each adapter is exposed when the cover is in a closedposition relative to the base.
 17. A telecommunications device accordingto claim 14, wherein the fixture includes a longitudinally extendinground shaft and wherein each of the plurality of trays includes aC-shaped coupling member that is coupled to the round shaft of thefixture for pivotal movement.
 18. A method for connecting two fiberoptic cables: providing a fixture including a longitudinal axis, thefixture including a plurality of adjacently positioned trays mounted onthe fixture, each tray being pivotable about an axis generally parallelto the longitudinal axis of the fixture, each tray including a base anda cover for covering the base, the cover including a connector mount;providing a cable termination structure that includes a first fiberoptic cable mounted thereon, the cable termination structure providing atermination location for a fiber optic signal without providing acontinuous optical path for the fiber optic signal; removing the firstfiber optic cable from the cable termination structure; pivotally movingone of the trays relative to the other trays; and connecting the firstfiber optic cable to the connector mount on the tray.